


Guardians

by BekahRose



Series: Athan-Verse [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, F/M, Immortal Ianto Jones, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-09-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 01:07:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/985828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BekahRose/pseuds/BekahRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ianto circumvented what had the potential to be the worst paradox of their lives, it had been a complete accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Jack, Ianto, Torchwood... they do not belong to me. They belong to RTD and The BBC...  
>  **Notes:** Written for the [longliveianto](http://longliveianto.livejournal.com/) Cliché Bingo Square: Backstory. Not too sure if this adheres to the rules, because it is focused on Jack's backstory. Though, I can confirm that: Ianto is immortal in this fic - just how he became that way, is yet to be beta'ed.  
>  **Notes #2:** For referencing purposes: One Cycle = One Week. One Turning = One Year. Age = Millenium. Also, this is part of what I like to call the 'Athan-Verse'.  
>  **Warnings:** Mentions of Character Death.
> 
> \----

The founding fathers of the colony – Boedin Sahl and Veras Shane – had chosen the peninsula as much for the ocean views as for the mineral that was buried in the mountains to the south, however, that had been fifty Turnings ago, at the Dawning of the Age. The mineral had since been mined to extinction and the mountain lands to the south were barren, the colony opting to move closer to the ocean and the riches it contained, rather than spend several cycles travelling back and forth for trade and work.

The city of Sahl-Veras on the Boeshane Peninsula spread out below him and he felt a tingle of excitement shoot down his spine, squinting as he looked out the small porthole window, he could just make out the glittering ocean beyond the city’s borders.

“Excited?” The voice in his ear was soft and low, sending another frisson of excitement down his spine before he nodded.

“And sad,” Jack replied, looking into stormy blue eyes. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

Ianto shook his head and looked to the small crystalline urn that Jack was nursing in his lap; its contents made the crystal look smoky and dusty and Ianto thought that it seemed a little too ostentatious for it’s purpose. “You’re taking him home, as far as funereal customs go, this is almost too antiquated.” Ianto leaned across Jack’s lap and looked out the porthole. “It’s pretty.”

Jack shifted in his seat as a crackle filled the small passenger cabin and the announcement system burst to life in a torrent of Galactic Standard.

_“Docking in Sahl-Veras on the Boeshane Peninsula in the Cadmium system will commence momentarily. Local time is seventh hour. Today is Fray, Octara 3, Fifty-Third Turning.”_

Ianto felt his stomach plummet as the transporter banked left. “Starting to wish we’d not taken the Doctor up on his offer to go travelling, throws off my internal clock,” he muttered, sitting back. “Early morning, Friday the third of Octara, 5053?” 

Jack nodded. “Right. At least he got us back as close to our regular time-line as possible.”

“For a change,” Ianto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. There was a hiss of hydraulics and the transporter came to a juddering halt.

“C’mon,” Jack began. “You’ll like it here; it’s almost exactly like Old Earth.” They stood and grabbed the matching duffels from the space beneath their seats, Jack taking a moment to carefully wrap and replace the crystalline urn he’d been holding for most of their trip, tucking it away safely in his bag before they disembarked.

~

They had been in Sahl-Veras for three cycles, and Ianto was pleased to admit that he was enjoying it. The ocean gave him a wonderful sense of ‘home’, and although they had been told they’d arrived during the warmest season of the Turning, there had been enough rain to make him nostalgic for Old Earth, and Cardiff. He stopped and waited for a cart to pass by, the driver nodding his thanks before it drifted further down the by-way; it was Satre, and he’d promised Jack a cooked meal, rather than just the Fifty-first Century equivalent of take-away that they’d been indulging in for the last three cycles.

It had taken him the better part of the first cycle to readjust to the new days and the way time moved out here on Boeshane, though in all honesty the passage of time wasn’t too much different out here from where they had made their home on Tarse IV, twenty-five Turnings ago, but their latest trip with the Doctor had left Ianto disorientated to life outside the void and outside of the TARDIS. Without paying much attention, Ianto let himself get swept up in the tide of people heading toward the market district; already he could hear vendors hawking their wares and haggling over credits. It reminded him of the markets in India, when he, Jack and Gwen had gone to investigate the remnants of Torchwood India. The only difference being, this time he didn’t have the threat of something looming over his head. Yes, he was definitely enjoying life in Sahl-Veras.

~

Ianto grimaced as the blade sunk into his bicep, slicing through the muscle as though it were warm butter before lodging in the bone. This was going to hurt. Through clenched teeth, he managed to activate his communicator and press the emergency call button; with any luck the local authorities would arrive in just a few minutes and he could go and recuperate in peace, away from the people and traders of the market district. As adrenaline surge through him, Ianto caught the alien’s wrist as zie was yanking on the knife imbedded in his arm and spun, twisting the Varda’s arm, up behind zie’s back and forcing it to the ground.

“Are you alright?” He asked, kneeling on the attacker’s lower back to keep hir pinned.

The woman – the intended victim – nodded at Ianto with amazingly clear blue eyes. Her face as pale as the walls of the building she had been about to enter. He grinned in reply, even as he threw all his weight into the knee holding down the Varda, to keep it from struggling. He let his gaze travel down the length of the woman, taking in her rounded belly and the way she was clutching at it. Ianto opened his mouth to say something when the whir and hiss of transport drew his attention. He nodded down at the Varda he still had pinned as three of Sahl-Veras’ Peace Agents surrounded him.

“Sir.” An Agent with flashing purple eyes nodded brusquely as her two partners sedated and cuffed the alien. “Can you tell us what happened?”

Ianto nodded, pushing up from the now unconscious Varda and handing over his ident-card. “Zie was about to attack this woman as she was entering the market, I’m afraid I got in the way.” He smiled at the woman who was still clutching her stomach, before turning his full attention to the Peace Agent; he couldn’t stop the tiny smirk that pulled at the corner of his mouth as said agent scanned his ident-card, her eyes widening as the information she required popped up on the scanner.

Handing back his ident-card, she snapped a small salute. “Thank you, sir.” She turned to the woman next, who passed her own ident-card over with shaking hands. “Mrs Odele Grace,” the officer said, returning the card to the woman. “A medic will be here momentarily, we ask that you wait until you’ve been scanned and given the okay by one of Sahl-Veras’ medics before coming to the Peace Agency to give your account of the story.”

The woman gave a shaky nod, her face pale and Ianto began to worry. Reaching up, he pulled the blade from his bicep, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out; it wouldn’t take long for the wound to heal, but in the interim, he needed to staunch the flow of blood. He nodded his thanks to the Peace Agent as she handed him a wad of cloth from somewhere.

“Who shall we ask for at the agency?” He asked, handing over the blade in exchange for the cloth.

“Agent Clematis, sir.” The agent smiled tightly and seemed to stand up straighter.

“Oh, you’re bleeding,” the Varda’s intended victim – Odele Grace, Ianto reminded himself – spoke, her eyes widening at the sight of the cloth stained with Ianto’s blood before she promptly crumpled to the ground in a dead faint.

“Shit,” Ianto muttered, moving quickly to scoop up the woman. A small crowd had gathered and he rolled his eyes, gritting his teeth as he hefted her into his arms. She was small and he figured that were it not for her pregnancy, she’d have been almost nothing to carry. He looked at the crowd, even as Agent Clematis’ partners were disbursing them and shook his head; it seemed some things would never change, century to century, planet to planet.

“Is she alive?” Clematis asked. Her eyes wide with fear even as Ianto nodded.

“Fainted is all,” Ianto replied softly. “I have lodgings, around the corner. Can we wait for the medics there?”

There was a frantic, whispered conversation between Clematis and her two co-workers before she handed them her scanner with the information from the ident-cards still on the screen. The two agents who had been busy dealing with the Varda and the crowd looked from the scanner to Ianto and back to Clematis before nodding and heading back to their waiting transport; a quick wave, followed by the hiss and thrum of the transport taking off and Clematis motioned to Ianto to lead the way.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time the medics had arrived, Ianto had changed the long-sleeved over-shirt he had been wearing and was sipping hot callah-berry tea with Odele – as she insisted on being called – and Agent Clematis. It hadn’t taken long for the other woman to come ‘round once Ianto had gotten them away from the crowd of people, though she still clutched protectively at her belly every so often.

The medics had just announced that both Odele and her unborn baby and Ianto were healthy enough to be escorted to the Peace Agency to give a full recount of what had happened in the market district, when Jack burst in through the door, face pale and eyes wide.

“Ianto?” He approached the other man cautiously, eyeing the room full of strangers. “They said there was an attack in the market district?”

Ianto nodded and continued to usher the medics out the door before returning to face his partner. “There was,” he said softly. “Jack, this is Agent Clematis with the Peace Agency.” He motioned to the young agent, who was staring at Jack with wide eyes. Ianto bit back a smirk when she seemed to remember where she was and who she was with before offering Jack a sharp salute.

Jack was more obvious in his amusement; his eyes lit up and colour slowly returned to his cheeks as he nodded and returned the salute. “At rest, Agent,” he said before turning back to Ianto. “You were there?”

Ianto sighed. “If you call stopping a Varda from attacking a pregnant woman, ‘there’, then yes I was there.”

Jack raised an eyebrow at that and said nothing else as Ianto gave the tiniest shake of his head.

“I’m so sorry,” Odele said softly as she came back into the main room. “But this little one seems to think my… Oh!” she said, catching sight of Jack. “Hello, you must be Ianto’s Entwined.” Her smile lit up the room as she looked from Jack to Ianto. “My soon-to-be-child and I thank you for bringing him to Sahl-Veras.” 

Ianto watched as the colour drained from Jack’s face slowly, was the only one who noticed the way his hand trembled as he held it out when Odele introduced herself. Something wasn’t right and he moved his hand slowly towards the blaster he had nestled in the holster hidden in the waistband of his pants. Ianto’s eyes narrowed slightly as he watched Jack’s throat work, heard the catch in his voice as he told Odele his name and watched as his eyes flickered nervously to the woman’s swollen belly.

“Perhaps my Entwined and I can prepare you an evening meal when all this is done?” Odele asked brightly, oblivious to Jack’s discomfit or Ianto’s sudden wariness. “As a token of our gratitude and burgeoning friendship?”

“That would be lovely, Odele.” Ianto managed when he realised an awkward silence had begun to descend upon the room.

There was a sharp trilling and Clematis flushed slightly, before leaving the room. The trio could hear her hurried whispers, before she reappeared.

“The Varda has been charged,” she said as she came back into the room, a tight smile on her face. “It seems hir was part of a trafficking ring, the Time and Inter-Stellar Peace and Protection Agencies have been monitoring and trying to stop.” She looked to Odele and her smile softened. “Transport is out the front, Mrs Grace. If you’d like, you can come with me and we’ll take you to your lodging first before heading to the Agency?”

“Oh!” Odele had gotten paler as Clematis explained what her superior had told her, her arms wrapping protectively around her belly as though the simple action was enough to ward off the strangers who would harm her unborn child.

“Shit,” Ianto muttered at the same time Jack uttered the word, “Kethir.” The two men shared a look before Ianto turned to face Clematis.

“We’ll follow along momentarily,” he said softly. “I’d like to freshen up, somewhat.”

Clematis nodded and gently ushered Odele from the lodging, the woman muttering softly to the – Ianto assumed – the child still safe in her womb.

Ianto and Jack waited until they were sure they were alone, before Ianto ran his hands through his hair and swore again. “The next time I see that bloody Doctor, I don’t care what regeneration he’s on or how long he’s been in that particular guise, I’m going to bloody kill him.” Ianto tugged his over-shirt over his head and tossed it aside, removing the bandages that Odele had insisted on using to take care of his wound. “Who knows what he’s dumped us in the bloody middle of? Close enough to our timeline or not, for all we know, we could have just inadvertently fucked up the future!”

“Ianto,” Jack’s voice was soft. Too soft and Ianto just kept talking right over the top of him.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have saved Odele, she seems nice enough. But, Jesus, Jack!” he wandered towards their bedroom, intent on having a shower and washing away the grime and lingering scent of blood and antiseptic. “What if that kid of hers grows up to be, I dunno, some kinda bloody…fifty-first century Hitler or Mussolini? What if the whole point of that Varda attacking her was to stop the child from growing up and destroying the universe?”

“Ianto,” Jack tried again, stifling a hysterical laugh as Ianto listed all the possible ways that today’s heroics – accidental or not – could turn out badly.

“We should call him,” Ianto said, already pulling the chain that activated the watering system, allowing him to have a proper shower using boiled rainwater. “I mean, perhaps it wasn’t on purpose, but maybe he knows something that we don’t?”

Jack sat down on the edge of the bed, running his fingers through his hair as he tried to calm the flurry of activity that his mind had become and slow down the pounding in his chest. When they’d decided to wait out the next five years here on the Boeshane Peninsula, he honestly hadn’t thought they would ever run into the family Grace. Sahl-Veras was a large enough colony and he and Ianto had promised that unless the Agency asked for their help directly, they would lay low and remain as inconspicuous as possible, choosing to treat this time as an extended holiday of sorts.

There was a rattle of chain from the washroom and Ianto stepped out, towel wrapped around his waist and hair damp. “That was quick.” He said, dropping the towel onto the bed and searching for a clean outfit. “What did he say, then?”

Jack looked up, blinking owlishly at the man in front of him. Any other time, he’d have wrestled Ianto to the bed and taken advantage of their both being home in the lighter hours of the evening, but today…

“Jack?” Ianto pulled on a pair of loose trousers. “Jack, are you alright? What did the Doctor say?”

“I’m… I didn’t…” Jack shook his head and blinked. “I didn’t call him. The baby… Ianto,” he said as he caught Ianto’s eye. “Ianto, she’s my mother.”


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a full cycle since Ianto had saved Odele Grace and her unborn child from the Varda and the trafficking ring, a full cycle since Jack had told Ianto that the woman was his mother and the unborn child his soon-to-be younger self. Ianto had spent the first two days after Jack’s revelation in communications with the Doctor, so they could be Certain, until the Time Lord and his TARDIS had materialized in the middle of their bedroom and dumped several print-outs, info-chips and data tablets at their feet and told them in no uncertain terms that they were being paranoid and needed to Stop, before disappearing back into the vortex.

Now, Ianto looked from the large projection of Jack’s family tree to the man in question. “We can always cancel if it makes you feel…” he said, trailing off with a shrug. In the last cycle, Jack had run the gamut of emotions on the matter, which Ianto had given up on trying to guess.

Jack looked up from the tree; it included the likes of Lucia and Alice, the bottom having been expanded to accommodate the children he had had since becoming immortal. “No, not cancelling.” He gave Ianto a small, wary smile. “It’ll be nice. I always thought about what it would be like, if I ran into them at some point,” he said softly, disabling the projection and setting the info-chip and data tablet aside. “Of course, I never thought I’d see them now, while she was still pregnant with me…” Jack sank back into Ianto’s embrace as he came up behind him, arms wrapping around his waist. “They can’t know who I am… who they are.” Jack sighed and closed his eyes. “I think that might be the hardest part of all of this.”

“You know we’re not going to be able to do anything to change their futures, right?” It was a stupid question to ask, Ianto knew that, but he needed to hear Jack say it. Needed to know that he wouldn’t wake up one morning, back on Twenty-first century Earth, his memories… his life having unravelled because Jack hadn’t been able to help himself, to stop himself from saving Grey or Odele’s Entwined.

Jack turned and pressed his forehead to Ianto’s, giving him a sad smile. “I know, and I won’t. By the time that comes around, I’ve a feeling we’ll be back home, on Tarse IV.” His arms tightened around Ianto’s waist and he quickly, chastely, kissed his forehead before stepping back. “Besides, it’ll be nice, seeing the kind of people they were. My memories of them are so… fleeting, it’ll be nice to have something solid to hold onto for a while, replace some of the darker ones with newer ones.”

Ianto nodded in understanding. It had been one of the things he’d feared the most, forgetting as time went on; Jack had explained that it wasn’t so much forgetting, as the memories just became faded and dull over time, like old photographs. “Right, well…” he said, moving to their bedroom. “Suppose I should look my best if I’m going to be meeting the in-laws then.” He teased, enjoying the way Jack’s laughter filled the room.

~

“Are you sure?” Ianto asked one last time, watching Jack from the corner of his eye as they approached the Grace home.

“Ianto…” Jack began, a note of exasperation in his voice.

“Right, just checking.” Ianto reached out and squeezed Jack’s hand as they stepped up to the entrance.

~

“This is my Entwined, Caddis.” Odele smiled, as she introduced the man standing beside her.

Ianto smiled. “Caddis,” he said, holding out his hand. “This is my Entwined, Jack.” He stepped back as Jack moved forward, hesitantly and took in the couple before him.

Caddis shared Jack’s smile and thick dark hair, right down to the way it flopped over his forehead, they even had the same broad shoulders, and were it not for Caddis' eyes being a pale green, one could have mistaken them for mirror images. Ianto watched closely, could see the tension in Jack’s shoulders as he greeted both Odele and Caddis.

“You look slightly familiar,” Caddis said, eyeing Jack closely as they moved through to the formal meal area. “Does your family hail from the mountain colonies?”

Ianto’s blood ran cold and he stumbled a little, waiting for Jack to answer.

“I believe I had some third-kin who were here at the Dawning of the Age,” Jack lied smoothly, his hand coming to rest at the small of Ianto’s back. “But home for us is on Tarse IV.”

“Oh,” Ianto said, hoping to change the subject as they stepped into the formal meal area. The low table was filled with many of the dishes Jack had explained to him and pointed out in their first cycle planet-side; dotted amongst them, were several small luminescent globes lending an intimacy to the atmosphere that Ianto wasn’t entirely sure was appropriate or having just met the couple. “There was no need for all this trouble,” he said, smiling at Odele and Caddis.

“Nonsense!” Caddis pulled Odele close to his side, pressing his lips to her hair and caressing her stomach. “You saved my Entwined and the life of my unborn First Son when you had no cause. A lesser being would have turned their eye elsewhere. We are indebted to you… _I_ am indebted to you.”

“Sit, please.” Odele gently nudged the three men toward the table. 

“Allow me,” Jack said softly, moving to help Odele lower herself to the cushions. 

Ianto watched, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of his lips at Jack’s attentiveness. He grinned as Odele murmured her thanks to Jack before they both took their places across from each other.

“Now,” Odele began, looking between Jack and Ianto once Caddis had finished offering thanks for their bounty and for their guests and for their continued good health. “Do you and Jack have any small ones of your own?” She asked, looking at Ianto as she passed him a plate of steaming shellfish.

“We did,” Ianto smiled fondly at Jack, remembering a girl with large blue eyes and freckles.

~

The evening meal had been full of questions. Caddis and Odele Grace had slowly, but surely learned many – heavily edited – things about Ianto and Jack and in return, had regaled the two men with stories of how they had first met, and how life had been in turns, kind and cruel to them, growing up on the Peninsula. Ianto had watched Jack, had felt a rush of warmth at the way he eagerly hung on their hosts’ every word. This was a chance very few ever got to have, and Ianto was grateful that Jack was able to take it in the midst of coming to his childhood home to scatter his brother’s ashes.

“Thank you,” Ianto said as Caddis handed him a cup of callah-berry tea. “And many thanks for the entire evening.” Odele flushed with pride and Ianto was reminded of Jack and the way he had practically glowed when he was proud of one of their children or fellow team mates.

Caddis handed Odele her tea, his fingers gently stroking her hair back from her shoulder as he did so. “We must confess, we have reasons to ask you to dinner other than just to express our gratitude.”

“Oh?” Jack shared a quick look with Ianto and could see his own panic reflecting back at him.

“Yes,” Odele began, reaching for Ianto’s hand. “Caddis and I have been talking since that day, and we’d like for you to be our child’s Guardians.”

Jack spluttered, setting his cup of tea down on the table with a clatter and Ianto could see that his hands had begun to tremble.

“Surely you have family? Grand-kin, friends who would be better suited?” Ianto looked from Caddis to Odele.

“My sister, Sayanna, was supposed to stand forward.” Odele said softly, looking somewhat annoyed and Ianto had to choke back the laugh that threatened to bubble up from his chest as he recognised the look from whenever Jack had sulked. “However, she’s had to move to Antares, and won’t be back in time for the birth or the Naming Day.”

“Odele and I have discussed this,” Caddis continued, looking between Jack and Ianto. “Not only would we like to see this friendship grow between us, but we would like to honour you. You saved me from a life of grief and despair, Ianto. I want to honour that by giving you a place in our lives, in our child’s life.”

Jack could see the colour staining Ianto’s cheeks and couldn’t help but feel a small sense of pride. They had both – in their long lives – seen the consequences of having to look the other way; history had been (still was) a great dictator of their actions, especially as they drew closer to the time when Jack had been young and mortal. Amongst the pride for Ianto, though, there was also a tiny flicker of warmth at the way his parents had taken him into their home, had accepted him and at the same time, it broke his heart to understand that they could never know who he and Ianto were, and how much this meant to them.


	4. Chapter 4

“You’re thinking too loud, again.” Jack sighed as he rolled over onto his back, pulling Ianto with him.

“Sorry,” Ianto mumbled as he tried to get comfortable. “It’s just… a lot to take in,” he said finally, forgoing curling up against Jack to sit against the head of the bed. “And you can’t remember your Guardians?”

Jack twisted his neck so he could look up at Ianto. “Not clearly.” He shrugged and went back to looking up at the ceiling. “The clearest memory I have of before the attack, is Grey’s Naming Day.”

“You didn’t see them after the attack?” Ianto’s brow furrowed as he thought about it. Surely in a time of grief, Jack’s Guardians had been there? It was a little hazy these days, but, he distinctly remembered his family closing ranks when both his Mam and Tad had passed away.

Jack shrugged before curling an arm around Ianto’s thigh. “I’m well and truly over two thousand years old, Ianto, maybe some things just don’t stick?”

“Do you think I should say yes?”

“It’s your decision, I won’t mind either way.” Jack turned his head, pressing his lips to Ianto’s hip before closing his eyes. “But you’ll have to tell Odele and Caddis soon, she looks like she could drop any time now.”

Ianto nodded and shuffled down in the bed, humming softly as Jack curled around him and drifted off to sleep. He let Jack’s even and steady breathing soothe the whirlwind of thoughts that had been keeping him on edge since leaving Odele and Caddis’ home, if he was meant to be Jack’s childhood Guardian… he couldn’t see any real harm in it. They were only going to be planet side for the next five years and then they’d be heading back home to Tarse IV, and surely Jack would remember if he’d had any contact with his Guardian after Grey was taken. Sighing, Ianto closed his eyes; his mind made up and drifted off to sleep.

~

Jack and Caddis had disappeared into Jack’s work room the moment Caddis and Odele had arrived and exchanged pleasantries, leaving Ianto and Odele to talk.

“I’m sorry if we put you on the spot, Ianto.” She gave him a tight smile as he helped her lower herself down onto the seating cushions in their living room. “Neither Caddis or I want you to feel obliged to do this.”

Ianto smiled and poured her a glass of pomme juice before joining her. “It was… a surprise,” Ianto said softly. “But, I am… deeply honoured that you would ask this of me. Jack and I, we’re only here for a short while, five years, and then we’ll be heading home to Tarse IV, would that be a problem?”

Odele took a sip of her drink and Ianto watched closely as she shook her head. “Many family units are spread across the stars,” she told him, her hand reaching across the space between them to grip his. “Distance doesn’t stop that, nor does time.”

“You’re right.” Ianto gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “And I would be honoured to be the Guardian to your First Born,” he told her, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as she grabbed his hands tightly and pressed her cheek to his knuckles before awkwardly trying to pull him into a hug.

“Oh, thank you, Ianto.” She mumbled into his shoulder. Pulling back abruptly, she grabbed his hands and placed them on her belly. Ianto looked up at her, when he felt movement beneath his palms and he couldn’t contain his grin. “See? Zie likes you already.” Odele’s voice was full of laughter as she called of Caddis and Jack to come join them.

Ianto watched her stomach, his hands smoothing out the material of the shift she was wearing. The whirlwind of thoughts that he had spent the better half of the last cycle trying to temper, had started up once again. He could feel the movement as the baby shifted, almost following the movement of his hands. It both terrified and excited him to know that the baby would grow to be his Jack, would grow to be the man that was standing in the doorway, watching him. He looked up and caught Jack’s gaze, offering him a tiny smile.

“Ianto said yes,” Odele said, as Caddis came to stand beside Jack.

“Wonderful,” Caddis beamed and thumped Jack on the shoulder as he moved past him to embrace Ianto. “Our First Son will grow up surrounded by fine men who will be there for him, Thetis-lyr willing, should his Mother and I not.”

“So, you know what you’re having?” Jack asked, stepping into the living room proper to sit behind Ianto.

“A son,” Caddis said, at the same time Odele managed a quick. “No.”

Ianto raised an eyebrow as the couple seemed to face off against each other and he was hit with another wave of amazement as he recognised the stubborn look in both Odele and Caddis’ eyes as one he’d seen on Jack a thousand times. He leaned back into Jack. “The callah-berry does not fall far from the tree,” he muttered sotto-voce, smirking when Jack gave him a poke to the ribs.

“What my Entwined means to say,” Odele said, glaring at Caddis. “Is that he is hoping for a son, however, he will be greatly pleased that the child is healthy, joyful and strong when zie arrives, no matter the gender.”

Jack and Ianto laughed as Caddis rolled his eyes behind his Entwined’s back and mouthed, ‘It’s a son.’ 

Shaking his head, Jack reached for Ianto’s glass and took a sip of pomme juice. “When is zie due?” he asked.

“Two cycles,” Odele replied, tugging on her shift. “I have loved every minute of this, but I will be grateful once zie arrives. No more having to call in a team of bahrahs to help me up and down when I want to sit and relax.”

“I wondered what all those men were doing outside of your home the other day,” Jack teased, laughing when Odele threw a pillow in his direction and caught Ianto instead.

“Wicked man,” Odele managed to get out between giggles.

~

It was less than a cycle later, when Ianto and Jack were woken in the middle of the night to the sound of their comm system trilling at them. Ianto rolled to the edge of the bed, his hand already slipping between the padded frame and bedside table for the blaster he stashed there when they first moved in.

Jack had already shimmied into a pair of loose sleep pants, and his own blaster was pointed down and away from the comm system camera as he jabbed the answer button with his thumb. “Caddis?” Jack cast a quick look over his shoulder at Ianto.

“Caddis?” Ianto moved quickly to join Jack, tucking the blaster back out of sight. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Odele,” the other man’s voice was tinny, but there was no doubt that he was alarmed. “The baby is… he… she… it’s on its way! She’s asking for you, for you both.” Ianto nudged Jack out of the way of the comm system, with a barely muttered ‘Get dressed,’ before Caddis was talking again. “The Sahl-Veras medics are taking her to the Med-Port… just in case.”

“We’re on our way,” Ianto told him, smiling at the frazzled Father-To-Be. “Go, see to your Entwined and we will meet you at the Med-Port.” When Caddis nodded, Ianto disconnected the call and ran his hands through his hair. “Kethir.” He breathed out slowly, watching as Jack pulled on his boots.

Jack looked up, large grin already forming on his face as he buckled the last strap on his boots. “How many people, in the history of the Universe, can say they were there, holding their mother’s hand, the night they were born?”

Ianto groaned and quickly pulled on his own boots. “It’s too late to back out, right?” he asked, straightening up and tugging on an over-shirt.

“Way too late,” Jack said, grin still firmly in place as he pulled Ianto tight against him, their lips meeting in a quick kiss. “Now, c’mon. You wouldn’t want to keep the in-laws waiting, would you?”


	5. Chapter 5

The night Odele gave birth to the baby that would grow up to be Jack Harkness, a storm blew in from the north; sand, wind and rain lashed at the outer-walls of the city and electricity arced across the sky, lighting Ianto and Jack’s way from their lodgings to the Med-Port. As their transport neared the Med-Port, Ianto couldn’t help but feel as though the weather was some kind of omen – not that he usually believed in that sort of thing – that what they were about to witness and the responsibilities he was about to accept, would damage the universe.

He was shocked when it didn’t.

He was even _more_ shocked when the Doctor didn’t show up, demanding to rewrite the last several weeks to save them all from a fate worse than the Universe shattering into a million tiny fragments.

“I have a Son!” Caddis cried out, throwing his arms around Jack, then Ianto as they neared the birthing suites of the Med-Port. “I have a Son!”

Jack cheered and Ianto returned Caddis’ hug. “How’s Odele?”

“Healthier than I’ve ever seen her,” Caddis said, still shaking Jack’s hand. “He arrived so quickly, but he was caught.” He made a short gesture to his throat and Ianto and Jack both nodded in understanding.

“Yes,” Odele said softly as she joined them. “I think he was in too much of a rush to see this world.” She smiled at Ianto, offering him the swathed bundle in her arms.

Hesitantly, he took the baby, his eyes widening as Odele slumped against Caddis’ side. “I thought you said she was alright?” He glared at Caddis and tucked the babe in close to his chest as Jack moved to help Odele.

“Silly men,” Odele huffed. “I just gave birth to my son; did you expect me to be turning somersaults?”

“You should have stayed in the suite,” Jack chastised gently as he ushered her back inside the room.

Ianto followed in time to hear Odele huff a laugh. “Please, had I not come out, Caddis would have you all out in the storm smoking a charrah in celebration, probably even offer up thanks with a pilfered flask of cahli.” She looked to her Entwined who had the good graces to blush.

Ianto watched Jack closely and felt something unfurl in his chest at the solicitousness he was showing Odele. It reminded him a great deal of when Tera had been pregnant last. He caught Jack’s eye and smiled softly.

“Isn’t he handsome?” Odele said softly, reaching for Caddis as they watched Ianto and their son.

Ianto looked down, finally, at the bundle in his arms and brushed aside the swaddling to look at the sleeping babe. Carefully, and almost hesitantly, he drew his finger down along the sleeping baby’s cheek; three thousand years and babies still managed to amaze him, this one was no different. The baby nuzzled the blanket, his tiny fist forcing its way out from the blanket to wave defiantly in the air and slowly, carefully, Ianto bent his head and pressed a kiss to the crown of dark hair. Lifting his head, he meets Jack’s gaze and smiles.

“Yes, he’ll be sure to break many hearts when he comes of age.”

~

Jack had taken to calling the baby Little Grace, doing everything in his power to separate the man he was now, from the baby he was and the child he would become. The name Ianto would bestow on him lingered in the recesses of his memories, waiting until the boy’s Naming Day. Jack stood in the doorway, watching as Ianto slept on a pile of cushions in the sunlight, Little Grace asleep on his chest. It had been a shock to come home from the Peace agency to see Ianto curled up like that, and Jack had been hit with the familiar longing to see Ianto curled up like that with a child of their own.

Little Grace twisted in his sleep and Ianto’s eyes flew open, his arms coming up to wrap around the baby and keep him from falling.

“I think I’ve got a photo of you somewhere, curled up with Kahleigh, just like that.” Jack said softly, coming into the room proper and stooping to run his hand along Little Grace’s back. “He’s getting so big,” he whispered, leaning down to brush his lips against Ianto’s forehead.

Ianto grinned. “I think it’s on the TARDIS, the photo.” He nudged the sleeping infant before looking at Jack. “Take him? Not sure I can do it without waking him.”

Jack smiled and picked up his infant-self, cradling him to his chest as Ianto got up from the pillows and disappeared from the room. While he waited for the other man to return, he started to hum to the baby, smiling when he looked down and met bright, clear blue eyes.

“One day,” he began, manoeuvring the child until he could see his whole face. “You’ll be in this position and you’ll think it’s weird, but trust me when I tell you that it is most definitely _not_ the weirdest position you’ve ever been in.” He smiled when the baby did before launching into another story.

“Now, when you’re about… thirty-five,” he said softly. “You’re going to meet this girl called Rose - ”

“Don’t you mean when you’re about forty?” Ianto asked, leaning against the door jamb, watching the two Jacks closely.

“You’ll get used to that,” Jack told the gurgling baby. “On the plus side, you get pretty good at ignoring that as well.”

“And so it starts,” Ianto said, pushing off from the wall to join them. “He’s not even of age, and already, I’m going to have to resort to black mail to keep him in line.” He rested his chin on Jack’s shoulder and looked down at the infant. “I’m probably going to be the only person on the whole Peninsula that isn’t going to fall for his ‘Who Me?’ look.”

Jack arched an eyebrow and tilted his head to look at Ianto.

“Okay, so, second person.” He smiled and reached out and tickled the child’s stomach, chuckling softly as he giggled and gasped. “Though I can hardly see you being the sort to discipline yourself from trying to… to see up the fish merchant’s daughter’s skirt.”

~

Ianto stood in the middle of Odele and Caddis’ ceremonial room, Jack slightly off to one side. They’d discussed it at great length, and Jack had opted, rather than be an official Guardian, he’d be more than content to assume the role of an Unofficial Guardian. Ianto looked at the faces around him, Odele’s ailing mother, Caddis’ brothers and a couple of Odele and Caddis’ friends. 

“Ianto,” the official said softly, drawing his attention back to the task at hand. “What name do you bestow upon your charge?”

Ianto looked down at the child and could already see flashes of the man he would become, the man who would travel to hell and back on more than one occasion. His infant smile already held traces of the trademark Harkness grin that said ‘butter wouldn’t melt’, his blue eyes already had that sparkle that often precluded Ianto agreeing to things that no sane person would agree to. He reached up and brushed dark curls back off the tiny forehead before pressing his lips against it in a quick kiss. In his very, very long life; he had never expected to run across Jack prior to the Doctor having met him and now he was inexplicably entwined with the man beside him, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it were more than just Jack waiting for the Doctor, that had bought him to Cardiff.

Looking up, he smiled at the official. “Athan,” he said, casting a quick glance at Jack. “I bestow the name, Athan.”

“Athan Grace of Boedin-Sahl, First son of Caddis and Odele Grace,” the official said, his voice loud and clear before handing the child back to his parents.

“Athan,” Odele said softly, looking down at her son. She looked up and caught Ianto’s and Jack’s gaze, her eyes bright as she mouthed her thanks before lowering her head to press tiny kisses to the infant’s cheeks.

Ianto grinned as he stepped back and into Jack’s embrace, feeling his Entwined mouth his own thanks against his neck, having buried his face in Ianto’s shoulder the moment he was close enough to do so.


	6. Epilogue

_“Docking in Sahl-Veras on the Boeshane Peninsula in the Cadmium system will commence momentarily. Local time is nineteenth hour. Today is Wode, Feiba 30, Sixty-Eighth Turning.”_ The static, computerized voice announced over the ship’s public address system. _“All passengers and personnel are advised that they are entering an Agency Declared, Level One military zone. Please have your ident-cards at the ready when disembarking, and move to your assigned checkpoint.”_

Jack fidgeted in his seat as Ianto replayed the vid-message for quite possibly, the hundredth time since boarding their transport.

_“Uncle Ianto, Uncle Jack? You… you need to come. Please. They…”_ A young boy, no more than fourteen, with wide, frightened blue eyes looked away from the vid-link and sniffled loudly. _“Please hurry.”_

“We should have been here.” Ianto growled, snapping the cover of his vortex manipulator closed.

“You know we couldn’t have saved them,” Jack said softly, his hand covering Ianto’s knee in a bid to keep it from jiggling.

“But we could have been here when they hit. Odele must be…” Ianto caught the look of pain in Jack’s gaze and frowned, rubbing his hands over his face before pulling Jack closer. “I’m sorry. I just feel so bloody useless.”

“And run the risk of either one of us, or Reya being hurt, or worse?” Jack shook his head. “We both knew the consequences of getting involved when she asked you to be Guardian.”

“I know,” Ianto said softly, fiddling with the strap of his manipulator once again. And he did. They had both been in a self-imposed lock-down of sorts for the three months leading up to the attack on the Boeshane Peninsula; a time-lock – courtesy of the Doctor at their request, three days after Athan had been born – had gone into effect not long after Reya’s twelfth birthday and had effectively kept them from leaving Tarse IV until three cycles ago, when news of the attack on Sahl Veras reached their home. 

There was a whirr of mechanics and a thunk as the transport docked and with a quick press of lips, both men rose and made their way to the exit. With any luck, they’d be on the next shuttle, Athan and Odele in tow and heading back to Tarse IV before the day was over.

~

The first thing Ianto noticed, leaving the transporter station was the complete and utter destruction of the south-east quadrant of the city. The Peace Agency tower, one of the tallest structures in Sahl Veras was gone, leaving a gaping maw in the once familiar skyline. As the transport made its way through several smaller districts, he was reminded of Canary Wharf in Old London, just after the Cyberman and Dalek invasion. A shudder worked its way down his spine as War Agency officials marched up and down streets he’d grown familiar with during their time here.

“They’re here as a precautionary tactic,” Jack told him softly. “The last thing people need is inter-galactic looters, swooping in like a pack of varu to pick them off while they’re at their most vulnerable.”

Ianto nodded slowly, watching as the market district came into view. Five Turnings ago, when they’d been here last, the market place had been bustling with excitement in preparation for the city’s Sixtieth Turning; now the market place was littered with debris and a small section had been cleared away to accommodate a make-shift med-centre. 

“Just here,” Jack told the driver – another War Agency official – as they approached a familiar building. “I’ll contact Clematis or Tarid when we’re ready to leave.” The official nodded as Jack and Ianto clambered from the transport before taking off in the direction they had just come from.

The doors to the building slid open and a woman with steely grey eyes met them, her left arm swathed in bandages from collarbone to fingertips.

“Sayanna,” Jack said, reaching out to embrace the woman. His face fell when she stepped back, her face twisting into a sneer.

“Where were you?” She ground out, her eyes flashing. “Where was your precious Time Agency when my nephew was being snatched? Hmm?” She spat on the ground in front of them. “Filling that boy’s head with all manner of nonsense, filling Caddis with tales beyond a fisherman’s life… their blood is on your hands.” She turned on her heel and stormed off toward the market district-cum-emergency med-centre. 

“Well,” Ianto said, rubbing his neck and watching as Sayanna disappeared around a corner.

“That explains a lot.” Jack said sadly, shaking his head. He reached for Ianto, squeezing his hand tightly as their fingers entwined. “Don’t let her get to you, Odele and Athan need you right now.”

“Us, Jack.” Ianto corrected him, pulling him closer and threading the fingers of his free hand through the hair at the nape of Jack’s neck. “They need us.”

Jack nodded and took a deep breath before stepping back and squaring his shoulders. He made his way to the entrance to the lodging, and couldn’t stop the relief that coursed through him when he felt Ianto’s hand squeeze his again. He wasn’t alone, would never be alone, and even though his memories of the time to come for young Athan were hazy and faded with time, it was a weight off his chest knowing that, even at his lowest point as a young man waiting to join the Time Agency and feeling like he was completely alone in the world, he truly wasn’t.

~

“Is this what it felt like?” Jack asked, turning slightly to meet Ianto’s gaze.

“What?” Ianto’s brow furrowed before his attention turned back to the trio standing at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the ocean.

“A little over fifteen Turnings ago, you stood in this spot as I finally said goodbye to the little brother I lost,” Jack said softly, so as not to interrupt the Passing Rites taking place for Caddis Grace. “Did you feel this… hopeless and useless?”

Ianto turned and drew Jack close to him. “I felt this sad, but never useless. I think… I felt useless when you made that decision, back in Old Cardiff, that it would be better and safer to,” Ianto fumbled for the right word. “Release him from his sufferings.”

Jack nodded slowly as a cloud of ashes drifted away from the gathering, out over the sea. All of the feelings he had locked away after this day, initially, were slowly coming back to him and he _remembered_. Jack’s breath caught as he remembered crying himself to sleep in the comfort of his Guardian’s arms; confused as to why his aunt was so angry at him, saddened by his mother’s despondency, guilty for the death of his father and the loss of his baby brother… At fourteen, it had been too much and he had felt so lost and then his Uncles had come and took him to their lodgings, before taking his mother aside and speaking to her…

… A firm hand on his lower back, nudging him forward, snapped Jack from his reverie and he was pulling Odele into his arms, murmuring soothing nonsense as she sobbed into his neck.

~

“Are you sure?” Athan looked at his Guardian with wide eyes as they lined up opposite Jack and Odele. He fidgeted and twisted to look over his shoulder at his Aunt Sayanna who had come to see her sister off and make sure Athan left.

“Don’t look back,” Ianto told him softly, his hand moving of its own volition to rest on Athan’s shoulder. “What happened out there, none of it was your fault. You’re a child and war is an adult’s game.”

“But Grey,” he began, feeling the guilt tighten around his chest until it felt like he was about to pop.

“But nothing,” Ianto said, turning the boy to face him. It still struck Ianto as odd, because for the moment, the only resemblance to the adult he would become, was the startling blue eyes and the mess of dark hair. “What happened is not your fault, Athan. We will keep searching for Grey, but I want you to remember that what happened out there is no one’s fault. Not yours, not Grey’s, not your father’s; no matter what anyone says, least of all Sayanna.” At Athan’s hesitant nod, Ianto gave his shoulder a squeeze and urged him forward to the waiting transport that would take them all to Tarse IV.


End file.
